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AutoCAD For Dummies, 19th Edition
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AutoCAD For Dummies, 19th Edition
by Ralph Grabowski
AutoCAD For Dummies, 19th Edition
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
Part 1: Getting Started with AutoCAD
Part 2: Let There Be Lines
Part 3: If Drawings Could Talk
Part 4: Advancing with AutoCAD
Part 5: On a 3D Spree
Part 6: The Part of Tens
Index
About the Author
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
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Prev
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Title Page
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Introduction
AutoCAD® For Dummies®
To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to
www.dummies.com
and search for “AutoCAD For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Conventions Used in This Book
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Getting Started with AutoCAD
Chapter 1: Introducing AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT
Launching AutoCAD
Drawing in AutoCAD
Understanding Pixels and Vectors
The Cartesian Coordinate System
Chapter 2: The Grand Tour of AutoCAD
Looking at AutoCAD’s Drawing Screen
Getting with the Program
Fun with F1
Chapter 3: A Lap around the CAD Track
A Simple Setup
Drawing a (Base) Plate
Taking a Closer Look with Zoom and Pan
Modifying to Make It Merrier
Following the Plot
Chapter 4: Setup for Success
A Setup Roadmap
A Template for Success
Making the Most of Model Space
Making Templates Your Own
Chapter 5: A Zoom with a View
Panning and Zooming with Glass and Hand
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom
A View by Any Other Name
Degenerating and Regenerating
Part 2: Let There Be Lines
Chapter 6: Along the Straight and Narrow
Drawing for Success
Introducing the Straight-Line Drawing Commands
Drawing Lines and Polylines
Squaring Off with Rectangles
Choosing Sides with POLygon
Chapter 7: Dangerous Curves Ahead
Throwing Curves
Going Full Circle
Arc-y-ology
Solar Ellipses
Splines: Sketchy, Sinuous Curves
Donuts: Circles with a Difference
Revision Clouds on the Horizon
Scoring Points
Chapter 8: Preciseliness Is Next to CADliness
Controlling Precision
Understanding the AutoCAD Coordinate Systems
Grabbing an Object and Making It Snappy
Other Practical Precision Procedures
Chapter 9: Manage Your Properties
Using Properties with Objects
Working with Layers
Using Named Objects
Using AutoCAD DesignCenter
Chapter 10: Grabbing Onto Object Selection
Commanding and Selecting
Selecting Objects
Perfecting Selecting
AutoCAD Groupies
Object Selection: Now You See It …
Chapter 11: Edit for Credit
Assembling Your AutoCAD Toolkit
The Big Three: Move, COpy, and Stretch
More Manipulations
Slicing, Dicing, and Splicing
Getting a Grip
When Editing Goes Bad
Dare to Compare
Chapter 12: Planning for Paper
Setting Up a Layout in Paper Space
Any Old Viewport in a Layout
Practice Makes Perfect
Clever Paper Space Tricks
Part 3: If Drawings Could Talk
Chapter 13: Text with Character
Getting Ready to Write
Creating Simply Stylish Text
Taking Your Text to New Heights
Entering Text
Using the Same Old Line
Saying More in Multiline Text
Turning On Annotative Objects
Gather Round the Tables
Take Me to Your Leader
Chapter 14: Entering New Dimensions
Adding Dimensions to a Drawing
Dimensioning the Legacy Way
A Field Guide to Dimensions
The Latest Styles in Dimensioning
Scaling Dimensions for Output
Editing Dimensions
And the Correct Layer Is …
Chapter 15: Down the Hatch!
Creating Hatches
Hatching Its Own Layer
Using the Hatches Tab
Scaling Hatches
Pushing the Boundaries of Hatch
Editing Hatch Objects
Chapter 16: The Plot Thickens
You Say “Printing,” I Say “Plotting”
The Plot Quickens
Plotting the Layout of the Land
Plotting Lineweights and Colors
It’s a (Page) Setup!
Continuing the Plot Dialog
The Plot Sickens
Part 4: Advancing with AutoCAD
Chapter 17: The ABCs of Blocks
Rocking with Blocks
Creating Block Definitions
Inserting Blocks
Attributes: Fill-in-the-Blank Blocks
Exploding Blocks
Purging Unused Block Definitions
Chapter 18: Everything from Arrays to Xrefs
Arraying Associatively
Going External
Blocks, Xrefs, and Drawing Organization
Mastering the Raster
You Say PDF; I Say DWF
Theme and Variations: Dynamic Blocks
Chapter 19: Call the Parametrics!
Maintaining Design Intent
Understanding Geometric Constraints
Understanding Dimensional Constraints
Lunchtime!
Chapter 20: Drawing on the Internet
The Internet and AutoCAD: An Overview
The Drawing Protection Racket
Outgoing!
AutoCAD Web and Mobile
Part 5: On a 3D Spree
Chapter 21: It’s a 3D World After All
The 3.5 Kinds of 3D Digital Models
Tools of the 3D Trade
Modeling from Above
Changing Work Planes
Visualizing 3D Objects
On a Render Bender
Chapter 22: From Drawings to Models
Is 3D for Me?
Getting Your 3D Bearings
From Drawing to Modeling in 3D
Adding the Third Dimension to 2D Objects
Modifying 3D Objects
Chapter 23: It’s Showtime!
Get the 2D Out of Here!
Visualizing the Digital World
Adding Lights
Creating and Applying Materials
Defining a Background
Rendering a 3D Model
Chapter 24: AutoCAD Plays Well with Others
Get Out of Here!
Open Up and Let Me In!
Translation, Please!
The Importance of Being DWG
Part 6: The Part of Tens
Chapter 25: Ten AutoCAD Resources
Autodesk Discussion Groups
Autodesk’s Own Blogs
Autodesk University
Autodesk Channel on YouTube
World Wide (CAD) Web
Your Local Authorized Training Center
Your Local User Group
Autodesk User Groups International
Books
Autodesk Feedback Community
Chapter 26: Ten System Variables to Make Your AutoCAD Life Easier
APERTURE
DIMASSOC
MENUBAR
MIRRTEXT
OSNAPZ
PICKBOX
REMEMBERFOLDERS
ROLLOVERTIPS and TOOLTIPS
TASKBAR
VISRETAIN
And the Bonus Round
Chapter 27: Ten AutoCAD Secrets
Sheet Sets
Custom Tool Palettes
Ribbon Customization
Toolsets
Programming Languages
Vertical Versions
Language Packs
Multiple Projects or Clients
Data Extraction and Linking
Untying the Ribbon and Drawings
Index
About the Author
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 4
TABLE 4-1 Common Architectural Drawing Scales
Chapter 8
TABLE 8-1 Precision Tools and Techniques
TABLE 8-2 Object Snap Modes
Chapter 9
TABLE 9-1 Useful Object Properties
Chapter 10
TABLE 10-1 Useful Command-First Selection Options
Chapter 11
TABLE 11-1 AutoCAD’s Modify (Editing) Commands
Chapter 19
TABLE 19-1 Geometric Constraints
TABLE 19-2 Dimensional Constraints
Chapter 20
TABLE 20-1 Types of Files That DWG Files Commonly Reference
Chapter 24
TABLE 24-1 AutoCAD Versions and DWG File Formats
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
FIGURE 1-1: Your AutoCAD, ready to draw!
FIGURE 1-2: My AutoCAD, ready to draw!
FIGURE 1-3: Your first AutoCAD drawing.
FIGURE 1-4: Pixels.
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2-1: AutoCAD's Start screen.
FIGURE 2-2: AutoCAD’s initial drawing window.
FIGURE 2-3: The AutoCAD screen with several windowed drawings in view.
FIGURE 2-4: When you can’t find it on the Ribbon or in the tool buttons, just s...
FIGURE 2-5: More tools than you can wave a Ribbon at.
FIGURE 2-6: Status (bars) check.
FIGURE 2-7: Choosing command options from the Dynamic Input menu.
FIGURE 2-8: Obey the command line; that is an order.
FIGURE 2-9: My, how you’ve grown: Pressing F2 (on the left side) or Ctrl+F2 (ri...
FIGURE 2-10: Help is at your F1 fingertip.
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3-1: How base is my plate.
FIGURE 3-2: Starting a new drawing from a template.
FIGURE 3-3: Snap and Grid settings.
FIGURE 3-4: Creating a new layer.
FIGURE 3-5: Select Cyan from the standard color tiles.
FIGURE 3-6: Give the column some thickness with OFFSET.
FIGURE 3-7: Button-downed base plate.
FIGURE 3-8: Specifying a crossing selection box for the Stretch command.
FIGURE 3-9: Stretching the base plate.
FIGURE 3-10: The Plot dialog box, with the More Options area visible.
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4-1: The Drawing Units dialog box.
FIGURE 4-2: A toolbox of templates.
FIGURE 4-3: Set your units here.
FIGURE 4-4: Get your drafting settings here!
FIGURE 4-5: And this little center line looks juuuust right!
FIGURE 4-6: Surveying your drawing’s properties.
FIGURE 4-7: Saving a drawing as a template and applying options.
FIGURE 4-8: Seek and you shall find your template folder.
Chapter 5
FIGURE 5-1: Belly up to the Navigation bar.
FIGURE 5-2: A menu for magnifying.
FIGURE 5-3: Save a view in the drawing.
Chapter 6
FIGURE 6-1: Results of drawing with the Line and PLine commands.
FIGURE 6-2: The optional extras.
FIGURE 6-3: A plethora of polylines.
FIGURE 6-4: A party of polygonal parts.
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7-1: Pi R squared: Circles R round; pizzas are flat and round.
FIGURE 7-2: A deluge of Arc options, and the results of using some of them.
FIGURE 7-3: To make an omelet, sometimes you have to break a few ellipses.
FIGURE 7-4: A slew of splines.
FIGURE 7-5: Donuts, plain and jelly-filled.
FIGURE 7-6: Today’s forecast: Revision cloudy.
FIGURE 7-7: You use the Point Style dialog box to control how point objects app...
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8-1: Coordinating from the keyboard.
FIGURE 8-2: The Object Snap right-click menu.
FIGURE 8-3: A snappy line.
FIGURE 8-4: Grabbing multiple object features is an osnap.
FIGURE 8-5: Using Object Snap Tracking to find the exact middle of a rectangle.
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-1: Use layer properties to control object properties.
FIGURE 9-2: ByLayer (nearly) all the way.
FIGURE 9-3: Comprehensive or quick? Sometimes you need lots of information, and...
FIGURE 9-4: Setting an existing layer as the current layer.
FIGURE 9-5: Change my line thickness, but color me black.
FIGURE 9-6: Adding a new layer in the Layer Properties Manager palette.
FIGURE 9-7: The Select Color dialog box.
FIGURE 9-8: The Select Linetype dialog box.
FIGURE 9-9: The Lineweight dialog box.
FIGURE 9-10: Type, and the command line shall find.
FIGURE 9-11: Tooling through the layer tools.
FIGURE 9-12: The AutoCAD DesignCenter palette.
Chapter 10
FIGURE 10-1: Setting selection options in the Options dialog box.
FIGURE 10-2: A window selection box, drawn from left to right, selects the only...
FIGURE 10-3: A crossing selection box, drawn from right to left, selects 11 obj...
FIGURE 10-4: Lassoing objects by using WPolygon selects the concentric circles ...
FIGURE 10-5: Making selected objects disappear, but only temporarily!
Chapter 11
FIGURE 11-1: Dragging objects in the middle of the Move command.
FIGURE 11-2: Use a crossing selection box to select objects for stretching.
FIGURE 11-3: The hazards of stretching with Ortho mode and Polar Tracking mode ...
FIGURE 11-4: Dragging objects in the middle of the Stretch command.
FIGURE 11-5: Offsetting a polyline.
FIGURE 11-6: Anatomy of the TRim and EXtend operations.
FIGURE 11-7: Cleaning up corners with Fillet and CHAmfer.
FIGURE 11-8: Blending smoothly (or tangentially).
FIGURE 11-9: Joining sundered pieces.
FIGURE 11-10: Using grips to connect two objects.
FIGURE 11-11: Stretching multiple objects with multiple hot grips.
FIGURE 11-12: What’s the difference?
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12-1: All spaced out.
FIGURE 12-2: View those layouts, and make it quick!
FIGURE 12-3: Show me the viewport!
Chapter 13
FIGURE 13-1: Text — with style.
FIGURE 13-2: Adding immortal multiline text.
FIGURE 13-3: Right-click your way to textual excellence.
FIGURE 13-4: Tabs, indents, and automatic numbering are set to create numbered ...
FIGURE 13-5: Dynamically columnizing the text.
FIGURE 13-6: Annotative objects resize automatically as the annotation scale ch...
FIGURE 13-7: Setting the table.
FIGURE 13-8: The Insert Table dialog box and one result of using it.
FIGURE 13-9: No loss for (multi)leaders.
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14-1: Examples of dimensioning commands.
FIGURE 14-2: The parts of a dimension.
FIGURE 14-3: Changing objects automatically updates dimensions.
FIGURE 14-4: Yet another manager, this one for dimension styles.
FIGURE 14-5: A drawing with a detail at another scale.
Chapter 15
FIGURE 15-1: A big batch o’ hatch.
FIGURE 15-2: The Hatch Creation contextual tab on the Ribbon.
FIGURE 15-3: Hatch options for every occasion.
FIGURE 15-4: Poorly laid red bricks (top); properly laid red bricks (bottom).
FIGURE 15-5: Hatches annotative (and not).
FIGURE 15-6: The Hatch tab in the expanded Hatch and Gradient dialog box.
FIGURE 15-7: A veritable plethora of hatch patterns.
Chapter 16
FIGURE 16-1: The Plot dialog box.
FIGURE 16-2: The expanded Plot dialog box.
FIGURE 16-3: A preview of coming plot-tractions.
FIGURE 16-4: System and non-system printer configurations.
FIGURE 16-5: Lots of ways to scale.
FIGURE 16-6: Settings for plotting a paper space layout.
FIGURE 16-7: Editing a color-dependent plot style table.
FIGURE 16-8: Selecting a plot style table that maps screen colors to plotted li...
FIGURE 16-9: The Page Setup Manager dialog box.
Chapter 17
FIGURE 17-1: The Block Definition dialog box.
FIGURE 17-2: Building a block.
FIGURE 17-3: The Insert dialog box, with previous releases on the left and Auto...
FIGURE 17-4: The Attribute Definition dialog box.
FIGURE 17-5: The Edit Attributes dialog box.
FIGURE 17-6: The Enhanced Attribute Editor dialog box.
FIGURE 17-7: Purging the drawing of unneeded named objects.
Chapter 18
FIGURE 18-1: You’re ready to dynamically define your associative array.
FIGURE 18-2: Down the garden path, using a path array.
FIGURE 18-3: Going down a different path: The results of editing an associative...
FIGURE 18-4: Use the Attach External Reference dialog box to attach an xref.
FIGURE 18-5: Follow the path less traveled when you attach an xref.
FIGURE 18-6: The Attach Image dialog box.
FIGURE 18-7: The Attach PDF Underlay dialog box.
FIGURE 18-8: Three blocks to make three seats.
FIGURE 18-9: Three seats in Block Editor.
FIGURE 18-10: A passel of parameters ready for action.
FIGURE 18-11: Variations on dynamic blocks (original on the right, and a handy ...
Chapter 19
FIGURE 19-1: Parametric tabs in AutoCAD (top) and AutoCAD LT (bottom).
FIGURE 19-2: Random shapes in need of constraining.
FIGURE 19-3: Locking down an object in drawing space.
FIGURE 19-4: Constraining to orthogonal.
FIGURE 19-5: Adding construction geometry.
FIGURE 19-6: Full-on geometric constraints.
FIGURE 19-7: Auto-constrainable geometric relations in the Constraint Settings ...
FIGURE 19-8: Simple geometry, badly in need of constraining.
FIGURE 19-9: Placing a dimensional constraint.
FIGURE 19-10: Format the appearance of dimensional constraints in the Constrain...
FIGURE 19-11: The Parameters Manager palette.
FIGURE 19-12: Editing constraints in Parameters Manager.
FIGURE 19-13: All locked down — dimensionally, at least.
FIGURE 19-14: Filter parameters to keep them organized.
FIGURE 19-15: Turning dynamic constraints into annotational ones.
FIGURE 19-16: This part needs a few revisions.
FIGURE 19-17: Thirty seconds later …
Chapter 20
FIGURE 20-1: Using eTransmit to share drawings.
FIGURE 20-2: Reference Manager.
Chapter 21
FIGURE 21-1: Subobjects of a 3D object.
FIGURE 21-2: Ascending the Z-axis.
FIGURE 21-3: Dynamically create a UCS on a 3D solid.
FIGURE 21-4: Naming a custom UCS.
FIGURE 21-5: The 3D ViewCube.
FIGURE 21-6: ViewCube, the multifunctional viewing device.
FIGURE 21-7: Some new styles to try on.
FIGURE 21-8: A manager for your visual styles.
Chapter 22
FIGURE 22-1: 3D viewing from every which way.
FIGURE 22-2: Setting up a 3D work environment in the Viewports dialog box.
FIGURE 22-3: It’s 2D and 3D all at the same time.
FIGURE 22-4: Changing settings in the right-click menu in the ViewCube.
FIGURE 22-5: The preset views drop-down menu.
FIGURE 22-6: Entering 3D coordinates to draw a 3D polyline.
FIGURE 22-7: Everything you need for a solid foundation.
FIGURE 22-8: Converting 2D to 3D by extrusion is as easy as 1-2-3.
FIGURE 22-9: Using cross sections to create a lofted object.
FIGURE 22-10: Sweeping a closed object along a path.
FIGURE 22-11: Revolving a closed object around an axis.
FIGURE 22-12: Using gizmos to modify objects in 3D.
FIGURE 22-13: Grip-editing a pyramid.
FIGURE 22-14: Solid primitives on the left, and the result of using the UNIon, ...
FIGURE 22-15: Before and after filleting and chamfering a 3D solid.
FIGURE 22-16: Carving up a solid model with the SLice command.
Chapter 23
FIGURE 23-1: A drawing, in less than five minutes!
FIGURE 23-2: The Drawing View Creation context tab of the Ribbon.
FIGURE 23-3: The Drawing View Editor context tab on the Ribbon.
FIGURE 23-4: Average creation time: 9.4 seconds per view.
FIGURE 23-5: When anything changes, everything changes.
FIGURE 23-6: Rendering compared with the Conceptual visual style.
FIGURE 23-7: AutoCAD to lights; extra brightness is a go.
FIGURE 23-8: Lighting primitives with the four types of user-defined lights.
FIGURE 23-9: Ah, yes, you’re on the lights list.
FIGURE 23-10: The Sun Properties palette gives you the power to control day and...
FIGURE 23-11: Adding color and texture to a 3D model with the Materials Browser...
FIGURE 23-12: Painting the canvas of the drawing window.
FIGURE 23-13: Here comes the sun!
FIGURE 23-14: Rendering a rendering in the render window.
Chapter 24
FIGURE 24-1: How to mess up a raster image.
FIGURE 24-2: The Import PDF dialog box.
Guide
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Index
About the Author
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